Hooked on Sin - February 14 Readings: Exodus 1, The Bondage of Sin

The Story of the Bible from Creation to the Cross to Eternal Glory

In 72 daily readings, we will examine the overall story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, seeking to get the big picture of God's work through Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

Today's Reading:  Exodus 1

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

 5 The total number of Jacob’s descendants was seventy; Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died. 7 But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.

8 A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. 10 Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.” 11 So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly 14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives—the first whose name was Shiphrah and the second whose name was Puah— 16 “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”

20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous. 21 Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Pharaoh then commanded all his people: “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”

Through the Bible Reading: Leviticus 4-7, Matthew 26:47–75, Psalm 22:28–31, Proverbs5:22-23

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Context 

The Exodus is a clear picture of the salvation that God gives us in Christ - many NT scriptures use elements of the Exodus to illustrate our salvation and the parallels are unmistakable. Yes, this is the history of God's saving grace to Israel, taking them from slavery to freedom, but it also serves as a model for us of the work of Christ.

• Israel as a nation is born in Egypt - we are born in slavery to sin. 
• God sent a baby to deliver Israel - God sent Christ. 
• The plagues fall on Egypt - the wrath of God falls on sinners. 
• On Passover, the blood of the lamb prevented the death angel from visiting the house - through Christ, our Passover Lamb, death is finally defeated. 
• The Israelites were freed from Egypt by God's work - we are freed from the dominion of sin through Christ. 
• Israel passed through the Red Sea into freedom - we are baptized into a new life in Christ. 
• God provided food and water for Israel - Jesus is our Living Water and the Bread of Life. 

There are other pictures of Christ - the Tabernacle is rife with Christological images and there is barely a page of Exodus that is not.

Here in chapter 1, we see the birth of the nation Israel in slavery to Egypt. They went down into Eypt as a family protected by Joseph's political power. Now, 400 years later, they have become a true nation, but one enslaved by their former hosts.

Devotional: Hooked on Sin

There is nothing more welcoming and hospitable than sin. It rolls out the red carpet and offers you the royal treatment. "Be our guest." Sin presents itself as warm, friendly, and inviting. It is only when it has you that you realize the truth. You are trapped, enslaved, and you are helpless.

Have you ever considered fishing from the perspective of the fish? You offer him a nice, juicy worm, which to a fish is evidently inviting. But you hide the hook inside the tantalizing morsel. It is only after he bites that the fish must face truth. He is caught and he will be cooked.

Israel went into Egypt for a short time, because there was going to be a seven-year famine and there was food and protection offered by Joseph. But no one meant to live there for 400 years. No one. It was to be a brief sojourn in the Pharaoh's land, a few years at most.

But once you accept Egypt's hospitality, getting out is harder than getting in. Sin welcomes you but it hides the hook. You accept its offer so that you can experience its pleasures and then suddenly you realize that you've bit the hook and you are trapped. I don't know who said it first, but it's been credited to different preachers - this piece of wisdom summarizes the power of sin.

Sin takes you farther than you want to go.
It cost you more than you want to pay,
And it holds you longer than you want to stay. 

Israel was in a helpless position - there was nothing they could do about it. Their bonds to their captor could not be broken and they were destined to continue in their bondage until death. But God had plans to free them and that was their only hope. None of us has hope of freedom from this power of sin until God acts to free us. Only his power can pull the hook and release us.

That's the good news. Exodus 1 looks so hopeless. A people in boats to a nation that oppresses them, but God was about to deliver them. God can do anything. Remember than. Never define reality simply by what the news says or what your eyes see. God is at work. Sin is strong but Jesus is stronger. The world is evil but the Light of the world shines brighter. What you see is not what you get. What God says is what we get. Israel's bondage looked permanent and impossible to change, but they had a God not bound by human possibilities.

Father, thank you for your power to free and to overcome the things of this world which bind me. My sin, though greater than my power to overcome, is defeated by your Son and in that I rejoice and in that I hope. 

Think and Pray:

Are you living in bondage to sin? Jesus provides freedom to those who trust him. If you have never done that, repent of your sins and put your faithful in Christ.
If you have rusted Christ, remember that you have been freed from sin's dominion and have the power to walk in victory over temptation and sin through Jesus and the in dwelling Spirit.